Welcome to the sequel! If you haven't yet read "Requiem of Trust," I would suggest doing that before you proceed further. This story will make much more sense.

No, I don't own these characters... only their badly warped personalities. ^_^ Now, without further ado (or adieu, for you nuts out there...)

Modern Problems

Chapter 1: But Enough Talk... Have At You!

It was amazing what could be accomplished in a week.

Within a short seven day span, Leon found himself close to being a married man. Due to Sara insisting on a daytime wedding, his choices for best men were slim. Not that Joachim or Dracula would have bothered with it anyway. Eventually, Alucard had given in and offered him the favor, though the church Sara had chosen gave him terrible headaches every time he entered.

"Explain to me again why Sara chose this particular church?" Alucard asked, a bit more irritated than Leon had seen him in a long time. The last time the half-vampire had been this upset, he had just killed his father for the first time. The second time, Alucard wasn't quite as upset.

Leon supposed that the church's powerful holy blessing had something to do with Alucard's current disposition. "Sara just… wanted something majestic. She wanted something nice…" the Belmont murmured unconvincingly.

"I'm sure," the half-vampire sighed, fighting the urge to fall over and collapse that had plagued him since he entered the holy building. "Her maid of honor had better be strong."

"Uhh… maybe?" Leon said, thinking of the small teenage girl Sara had chosen. His thoughts drifted from the young girl to the teenage boy she had brought with her, and he looked up from his prayers. "I wonder if Jonathan is doing ok?"

"You mentioned leaving him with Joachim. Of course he isn't ok," Alucard, his head throbbing from being within the walls of the holy church, was in no mood to chat idly. "Leon, might I remind you that this is quite painful?"

"Oh! Right, sorry Alucard," Leon apologized, then quickly resumed blessing the half-vampire, as Sara had requested that he do.

Alucard winced as another blessing struck him like a slap to the face. He was starting to understand why his father hated Sara Trantoul so much.

"Adrian…" Dracula murmured, looking up from his work.

"What?" Isaac asked, easily placing another large stone boulder into the wall.

"I have a feeling he's allowing something very stupid to happen to him again," the lord of the night sighed and shook his head. "Well, no matter. The boy must learn his lesson someday."

"Yep," the former devil-forger agreed, placing the final stone into the wall. "And… it's done."

"What's done?" Dracula asked, pulling himself from thoughts of his miserable son.

Isaac answered simply, gesturing around them. "Castlevania."

Soma groaned with frustration as the TV insistently played another political commercial. "…lter understands the socioeconomic situation…"

Click.

With an aggravated growl, the white haired youth threw the remote across the living room, determined to find a way out of his house. "I'm going to Starbucks!" He yelled upstairs.

Faintly, he heard his mother's dulcet reply, "There's money on the counter, dear. Are you going to see your friends? You should really see them again. How is Mina? She's such a sweet girl. Are you going to date her anytime soon?"

Soma was already out the door.

Sara's maid of honor was a random girl that they had only known for two days.

"Girl, try this one on," Sara insisted, holding out a modest black dress with decorative ruffles.

"I have a name," the girl reminded her as she emerged from the dressing room, pushing a lock of her long honey brown hair out of her face. Taking the 49th black dress she had tried on that day, she slipped back into the small back room with a sigh.

"I know," Sara said back.

"It's Charlotte," the girl insisted flatly, sliding out of the room to twirl in front of the mirror tiredly again.

"You know, I don't have to do this, right?" Charlotte said flatly, snatching the next dress from the other woman bitterly.

"You will if you ever want to get back to your time," the dark haired woman said with a snide grin. "It's really your fault that you fucked up that spell and landed here anyway."

"I fail to see why I have to do this," the magician girl said back sourly.

"Because we're holding your friend hostage."

Indeed, Charlotte's friend Jonathan was currently being held hostage in the basement of Leon's house. Not only that, but he was being tortured in one of the most awful ways imaginable.

Joachim was forcing him to watch the Titanic. Again.

By the time they reached the end, the vampire was in tears. "Why can't they just be happy together? Why?"

Jonathan adjusted his long red jacket from his three hour nap, running his fingers through his blonde hair to comb away the sleep-mussed strands. Admittedly, he had found the movie somewhat interesting. The first couple times. "…haven't you seen this movie, like, 100 times already?"

"Nine hundred and forty two times," Joachim murmured, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Doesn't it get old?" the teenager asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Blasphemy! It will never get old!" the vampire shrieked, then immediately curled into a weeping ball on the couch. "Just as I… will never grow old…"

Behind the register of the local Starbucks café, the barista took advantage of the lull in customers to check her ebay bids. So far, she had outbid everyone on the blue laced pumps she wanted. The barista smiled with glee.

Suddenly, the door jingled, alerting her to another customer. The girl frowned, stowing away the phone, and looked up at the anemic looking pale haired youth that often frequented her store. "Welcome to Starbucks. What'll it be today, kid?"

"Ok, sure. Whatever," the girl agreed apathetically, pushing her thick long brown hair over her shoulder to cover what were certainly not-company-policy tattoos on her not-company-policy bare back.

As luck would have it, the motion caught Soma's attention, whose eyes fixed on the vanishing tattoos. "Dude, those are some fucking sweet tats. Can I see them?"

Thinking that he was talking about her breasts, the girl frowned, "No! We're in a Starbucks!"

"C'mon, can't I…" The pale haired youth began, wondering why this girl was being such a prude.

"Don't you want to order a drink or something? Isn't that why you're here?" The barista gestured to the chalkboard full of drinks.

"Yes. I want a venti java-chip mocha frappuccino. Double blended, extra whip cream," Soma blurted out, handing her his mom's cash. He realized, suddenly, that he really should start saving the gold he found in Castlevania sometime.

The barista quickly took his money, gave him change, then spun around on her heel. When she turned around, Soma unsuccessfully strained to catch a glimpse of her intricate tattoos. She swiftly made the drink and handed it to him. "There you are, sir, now please be on your way."

Soma accepted the drink but refused to forget about her tattoos. "At least tell me where you got those tats, I've been looking to get some myself."

The girl arched an eyebrow at him, deciding that there was definitely more to this customer than she ever wanted to know. "I think you should leave now."

"Ok, what the fuck is your problem?" Instantly growing frustrated and angry with her, he placed his hands on the counter, not noticing that he had unwittingly started to activate his lightning magic.

"You're making a crude request, and I think you should go before we have a problem," she explained simply.

"Oh, we already have a problem. The problem is on!" Soma growled.

Just as the girl reached for her phone to call the police, lightning flew from Soma's fingertips, electrocuting all the appliances on the counter. "You… what did you…AAHH!" she screamed.

Soma froze, realizing what he had just done. He had used magic in public, something that he knew he should never do. Alucard was going to be so pissed at him if he found out…

Picking up the charred remains of her phone, the girl glared murderously at him. "You fried my cell phone!" In one fluid motion, she put her hands on the countertop and leapt over it, lunging at him.

Deciding that he had really picked the wrong girl to piss off, Soma held on tightly to his drink and ran out the door.

It wasn't long before he realized she was still following him. "You son of a bitch! How am I supposed to check my ebay bids now?"

Soma couldn't go home. He couldn't take this crazy, raving…

A bolt of lightning flew past him, and this time, Soma knew that it wasn't him that threw it. His eyes widened as he chanced a glance behind him.

The girl was still following him, her long dark hair whipping behind her as the palm of her hand still glowed with residual magic.

Soma let out an almost inaudible squeak of terror. A crazy, raving, lightning throwing girl…

Knowing that there was only one place he could go, the youth changed his course and ran as quickly as his legs would carry him. When the girl gained on him enough to swipe at his collar, he activated his black panther soul, dashing at super human speed down the sidewalk.

The girl pulled out a pair of winged boots from somewhere, slipping them on, and dashed nearly as quickly after him.

"Shit shit shit!" Soma swore to himself as he chanced another glance back.

Before he could turn back around, he collided with a large unmoving object.

"Soma, what have I told you about using Dracula's powers in public?"

From the frying pan, and into the fire.

By the time he turned around, Alucard had already caught his wrists and halted his progress. "Oh shit, Allie, this girl's a fucking psycho bitch! She threw lightning and I had to… wait, what happened to you? Did you dye your hair?" Soma suddenly asked, realizing that Alucard looked completely different than he had ever seen him before.

"No. I'll explain later," Alucard sighed, holding Soma captive in front of Leon's house as the girl caught up to them. As usual, despite her previous anger, the girl stopped in awe before him. Typical.

The starbucks girl froze before the walking sex-bombshell that stood in front of her. Long blonde hair that complimented his porcelain complexion flowed over garments that were obviously foreign though expensive. His eyes were a calculating stormy grey, and the way he carried himself, the girl knew he had to be… "Are you Alucard?"

Hearing the door open, Jonathan leapt from the couch in the basement and ran up stairs. "OhThankGodYou'reBack!" he said with more happiness than he had known in years. "I don't know how many more bad chick-flicks I can watch."

Leon cast him an apologetic gaze. "I'm sorry… did he make you watch Confessions of a Shopoholic?"

"Twice," Jonathan shuttered.

"It's a beautiful piece of cinematic art!" Joachim declared, following their red-coated guest upstairs and wincing as the dying rays of the sun outside irritated his eyes. Sticking to the shadows of the room, he indicated towards the door. "You can stop letting sunlight in any time now, Leon. And who is she?"

"Sorry," Leon apologized, quickly shutting the door and closing the draperies that Sara had thrown open earlier that morning. "This is Shanoa. She works at the local Starbucks."

"Ah, I knew she looked familiar…" Joachim grinned, drifting into the room once the Belmont had sufficiently blocked out most of the sunlight. As he floated by Soma, he plucked the drink out of the youth's hands, eliciting a startled cry and a string of expletives. He took a sip, hovering just in front of her. "What brings you here?"

"You… really are a vampire!" Shanoa stammered. "I thought you were kidding about refilling your Starbucks cup with blood…"

"Yeah, shocking, isn't it?" Jonathan answered for him. "I know it took me a little getting-used-to. You know, the whole fearing-for-your-life thing every now and then."

Joachim rolled his eyes. "He's over-exaggerating."

Turning her attention back to the group, Shanoa continued, "I am Shanoa. I represented the Order of Ecclesia, dedicated to eradicating Dracula, until they went shitside."

"Oh, another one," Joachim frowned with disinterest, taking a seat on the couch.

"You speak as if this is typical…" Shanoa said slowly.

"It is," Leon agreed.

"Just a moment… represented?" Alucard asked.

"It no longer exists," the girl explained simply.

"Then what are you doing now?" Soma asked, finally working up the nerve to talk in front of this frightening girl again.

"Working at Starbucks. You should know that," Shanoa glared at him. "And I was happily checking the internet before youfried my cell phone…"

Soma winced and ducked behind Alucard as she raised a glowing fist.

At this, Alucard interjected curiously. "Are you saying that the only thing you truly desire is to use the internet?"

Shanoa thought about it. "Actually… yes."

"The computer is upstairs," Leon gestured towards the grand staircase in his foyer. "If you look in the second room to the right…"

Shanoa had already wing booted upstairs. When they listened carefully, they could hear faint typing sounds echo from the upper floor.

"But… doesn't she want to know about Mathias?" Leon asked with a frown.

"We can explain the situation later," the half-vampire assured him, then looked grimly at the door. "For now, I think we have bigger problems on our hands. Joachim, you should get out of…"

Before Alucard could finish, the door flew open, the rays of the sun pouring again into the room. With a yelp, Joachim dove behind the couch and retreated into its large shadow.

Like a mighty goddess from another world, Sara strode into the room, pulling Charlotte by the wrist. "God fucking damn it Leon! Why is it so dark in here?"

"Joachim is a vampire," Leon began to explain, "He can't…"

"He's a freeloader," Sara growled, brushing past him as she continued to pull Charlotte upstairs.

"Jonathan, are you ok?" the magician girl asked him quickly.

"Charlotte! It was terrible! I had to watch…" Jonathan called after her, beginning to follow the girls upstairs until Sara's menacing glare made him freeze in place.

"No boys allowed," the dark haired woman commanded, then pulled the girl out of sight.

As Leon hastily closed the door again, Joachim sighed, slipping back into view. "Leon, I hate to say this but are you sure you want to marry her?"

"She is the love of my life," Leon responded sadly.

"She's a total bitch!" Soma exclaimed, gesticulating wildly. "Why do you want to marry that?"

"I made a promise long ago, and I will keep it," the Belmont responded with a sense of finality. It was clear that discussion on the topic was closed.

Elsewhere, Dracula looked up suddenly from his throne. "Leon…"

"What about him?" Isaac asked as he continued forming the metal on the backing of the ornate chair with his bare hands.

"I have this peculiar feeling that he is doing something extremely stupid. Again," the lord of the night said with a sigh. Turning around so that he could face Isaac, he gasped. "What are you doing?"

"Decorating it like you said," the devil forger explained, not stopping his work.

They're baaaaaaack! Words cannot describe how elated I am that this story has made it to the sequel. ^_^

Though I truly love being able to update each week, admittedly, that may not happen with this story. I'm putting that out there right now. If you like the fic, I'd suggest clicking the "add story to story alert" option below so that fanfiction dot net will email you when I am able to update.

Thanks for continuing to read this plightful tale of insanity and romance!

Chapter Trivia #1:

Three new characters have been introduced to our story! Shanoa, Charlotte, and Jonathan. Which Castlevania games are they from?

Bonus Trivia #1: (Because my boyfriend likes really hard questions…)

Both Shanoa and Soma use a similar lightning attack in their respective games. What is the name for each one?

Please review with your answers!

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.